Introduction
Building a driveway, walkway or pathway, or interesting hardscapes into your existing landscape is quite easy with traditional pavers. However, interlocking permeable pavers are a much superior option. You can search for “paving companies near me” and hire professionals to build you a driveway or walkway. Let’s check out the benefits of interlocking permeable pavers.
The Benefits
- Self-draining – One of the greatest advantages of interlocking permeable pavers is in its name – permeability. Interlocking permeable pavers can drain out water instead of accumulating or pooling it on the surface. The pavers have tiny gaps that allow them to drain out the water to the lower layers.
This makes the pavers last longer and minimizes the risks of damage. You can also connect the drained water to an underground rainwater harvesting tank and reduce your water bill while helping the environment. The self-draining property of permeable pavers also minimizes runoff and can even help you reduce your dependence on stormwater drains.
- Strength and durability – If you thought concrete was a strong construction material, you’re in for a pleasant surprise with interlocking permeable pavers. These pavers are exceptionally dense and strong, much more than asphalt and concrete. They can easily tolerate thousands of pounds of force in extreme weather conditions including chilling forests and scorching heat.
So, whether you live in the most southern and tropical part of the country or up north, you won’t have to worry about the driveway cracking if it’s made from interlocking permeable pavers. This is possible due to the tiny gaps between those pavers. The gaps allow water to drain out and also allow some room for contraction and expansion with extreme temperature changes.
Whether you buy interlocking permeable pavers made from stone, bricks, or other materials, they are incredibly strong due to the way they are laid out. Moreover, interlocking permeable pavers made from concrete are even stronger than regular concrete since it is made at factories with strict control on curing time. Either way, you get a better deal when compared to most traditional options.
- Flexibility – Flexibility is another strong suit of interlocking permeable pavers. Whether you choose pavers made from bricks, stones, or concrete, you’ll have endless options on color, texture, and patterns. Unlike poured concrete or asphalt, there’s no need to choose a boring and uniform gray or black color. You can make your driveway into a giant chess board with black and white paver blocks or the driveway made from pavers that are heavily textured for that extra grip.
There’s no limit in terms of shape either. You can get pavers that are shaped like rectangles, circles, squares, hexagons, and a lot more. You can also make interesting hardscapes with unique shapes and patterns due to the color and pattern variation and easy availability. While the same is possible with dyed asphalt, dyed concrete, and cutting stones into different shapes, the cost would spike up very quickly.
- Affordable – When you’re about to build a walkway or driveway, you have a few options. Most people go for options that have low upfront costs. That’s why asphalt and concrete driveways are more common. You’ll pay less than double digits on each square foot of asphalt or concrete highways. On the other hand, to make something out of interlocking concrete pavers, the cost is usually over $20 for every square foot.
However, you should carefully think about the long-term costs since your driveway isn’t a temporary structure and serves a very fundamental purpose. It’s a structure that needs to last for decades and would have costs attached to it. For instance, asphalt and concrete driveways need to be sealed every couple of years to keep them weatherproof and look good. Otherwise, they will develop cracks and signs of damage from natural elements.
Concrete is especially vulnerable to damage inflicted by extreme winter climates. The constant freezing and thawing make the concrete slab develop cracks. Repairs are difficult and expensive as well and can quickly spike up the long-term ownership cost. On the other hand, interlocking permeable pavers require almost no maintenance apart from the occasional wash.
Even when a few pavers get pushed up or cracked, you can easily swap them out without any complicated tools. No need to call professionals for this task. That’s why in the long-term the ownership cost of driveways made from interlocking permeable pavers is lower than those made from asphalt or concrete.
- Erosion control – As mentioned above, interlocking permeable pavers don’t allow the pooling of water in one place. Puddles are not an issue when you have these installed on your property. Instead, you can use these pavers to redirect the water wherever you want. You don’t need to deal with runoffs and buy a fresh bag of topsoil that was eroded away from your garden or yard. Moreover, since there are no puddles, there’s no risk of bugs that are attracted to standing water. The surface also remains less slippery.
- Good for the environment – Interlocking permeable pavers aren’t just good for you, but they are good for the planet as well. These pavers allow water to go back into the ground and help to restore the underground water table while preventing soil erosion at the same time. Moreover, since there’s no runoff, it doesn’t pollute or clog up local waterways.
Due to the self-draining nature of these pavers, you don’t need to invest in extensive stormwater drainage or retention systems either. That means less digging and moving of resources and less fuel burnt by trucks or heavy machinery. Using these pavers does less ecological damage in your own backyard and also helps you reduce your carbon footprint since you need to do less repair and maintenance.
Conclusion
Interlocking permeable pavers provide a lot of advantages over regular concrete, asphalt, or regular pavers. They drain out water, have incredible durability and allow you to make flexible designs for hardscapes. You can search for “paving companies near me” and hire pros to build a driveway out of this material.
